The limits of my language are the limits of my world

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Ayamihewasinahicewin

Nôhtâwînân is a history of the Our Father‘s translation into Cree. It was published on May 25, 2015.

ᒫᐦᒄ ᐅᒥᔻᒋᒧᐎᓐ is a new East Cree translation of the Gospel of Mark based largely on the latest editions of the New International Version and the New Revised Standard Version. Being quite familiar with earlier Cree translations, I was struck by the frequency of orthographic inconsistencies and translational inaccuracies. Additionally, no Cree translation that I am aware of is annotated and this naturally presents a problem. The goal of this project is therefore to be as accurate and consistent as possible, while providing useful annotations throughout the text (annotations are absent from this online version due to formatting issues). Differences between it and earlier Cree translations include the following. This is a literal translation of the Gospel of Mark; There are no explanatory additions to the text (except that which will appear in the annotations). Proper nouns aren’t overtly signalled by an explanatory phrase as is the practice in the latest East Cree version by the Wycliffe Bible Translators (2004), but they are nonetheless marked by a bold first character, as was the practice in earlier Cree literature. Personal names feature grammatical marks, a practice consistent with earlier translations but absent in the latest East Cree version. Cree transliterations of proper names are based on their original Hebrew or Greek forms to avoid the kind of inconsistencies raised by using English or French forms as starting points. Additionally, these names have been modified to agree with the rules of Cree pronunciation to avoid the kind of awkward forms found in earlier translations. And finally, where traditional English translations differ from the earliest Biblical manuscripts, I side with the latter. Only chapter 1 of this gospel has been completed to date.